My grandmother is doing much better. I think they have her medications regulated and she did get to come home this week. She will be staying in the Dallas area with my mom to do 12 weeks of rehab. Thank you for your prayers, please continue to pray for her as she is still depressed and will need to complete her rehab away from home. She lives in West Tx.

Ben is doing great and keeping me very busy. I will do a monthly update on or around the 11th of each month on his website for now. When school starts back up I will have more time to blog. I have been very busy taking each of them shopping for clothes and shoes. Where did the summer go? I feel somewhat overwhelmed right now with so many things to do before school starts back up. I'm also having a hard time thinking about Shayle heading off to big school for first grade. Praying she will adjust easily and do well in a new school with new friends.

Arron did get a job and went to orientation this week. He will find out his hours tomorrow. He also got his braces off this week. He has a great smile and he's happy about not having to wear them anymore. I can't believe my baby is looking so grown up, driving and working now.

Please Pray

Please continue praying for my grandmother. She got out of the hospital last week, but only for two days. She began having some complications on last Friday and was sent by ambulance to a hospital near my mom. Once she was seen there, she was transferred back to Medical City where she was admitted to the CVICU. She has had a few rough days with her heart rate going up and down. She had more fluid on her lungs, which she had drained once before and she has been given 3 units of blood. She is scared and needs prayer for peace. I know she's thinking about her sister who passed away in April after her bypass surgery. Also, please pray for my mom and my aunt who have been by her side for the last 3 weeks. They are emotionally and physically drained and my mom really needs to be at work as she is out of vacation/sick time.

I had Darrel talk to my grandmother to try to help ease her mind. He said many of these complications are very typical for the type of valve replacement she had. She has always respected his opinion so much that I figured he may be the only one who could help her be at peace. She did get out of ICU on Tuesday of this week and will be in the hospital until they can get her medications regulated and keep her heart rate normal.

Home From The Hospital

Just a quick update....I went to see my grandmother yesterday at the hospital. She is doing much better after a few crazy days with her kidneys, lungs & breathing treatments. She has finally gone home to my mom's where she will stay for the next 3 months in order to do her rehab. I am very thankful she is out of the hosptial and she does have family to take care of her while she recovers. She lives in west Tx but will stay in the Dallas area throughout her rehab. Please continue to pray for her as she recovers and has to be away from her husband. He is not in very good health but has a close friend nearby watching out for him.

Myranda and Arron had a great week at camp and had alot of fun working with kids who came to VBS. It was good for them to be brought out of their comfort zone a little while inviting people off of the street of NM to come to VBS. Some kids came all week, and some were sporadic but seeds were planted in the lives of those little ones and their parents/grandparents! One little girl asked if they were coming back again to do VBS. She was about 6 yr old. They told her maybe they could come back next year, she said "no that is too long, you need to come back sooner." She must have really felt God's love being poored out on her. Hopefully she will come to know the Lord someday!

Payton is away at camp this week, Jacob went to my in-laws for a couple of days. Ben isn't quiet sure what to think when his siblings keep coming and going. We are leaving soon to take the kids on a short vacation. I will post again when we return.

Update on Grandmother

Thanks for all your prayers for my grandmother. She did well during her surgery, she was in surgery for 7 hours. She ended up with 2 stints being placed and the valve replacement. She is still in ICU but has come off the ventilator. She still needs prayer for her recovery and to be able to be weaned from an external pacemaker. I hope to be able to travel to see her sometime this weekend when Darrel can help with the kids.

Prayer Request

Everyone here is doing well, Ben continues to adjust and is doing better (most days) with being nice to Shayle. Arron and Myranda are away at church camp in New Mexico this week. As a part of the camp their youth group is having VBS at a local housing project, which we have been told is not open to the Gospel. Please pray with me this week for Arron and Myranda to grow even closer to God, to have a life changing experience while teaching these children and for the kids who will attend VBS to have an open heart to hear about Jesus. I have been praying for a couple of weeks for those who God will bring to VBS and for them to be receptive as well as our youth that will be teaching them God's Word, some of which have never heard the name "Jesus".

Also, my grandmother will be having a second heart surgery on Wednesday, 7/14. She had a tripple by-pass five years ago. She is now needing a stint to be placed in and her aortic valve replaced. Turns out, her aortic valve has never been the way is should be, she has had a heart defect all of her life with a small heart murmur. She is 77 yrs old and I am very close to her. She was the one who led me to my Savior over 31 years ago. I will forever be greatful to her. She is nervous as her sister just passed away in April after her heart surgery. Please lift her up for her to have peace like never before, for the doctors to be guided by The Great Physician and for her recovery. She had some trouble with her breathing and lungs after surgery last time and is concerned about that this time.

Last time, I was able to be at the hospital the entire time for her surgery, but this time I won't be able to be there the day of surgery. Ben would not be happy if he couldn't be with his mommy for an entire day and my grandmother understands this. Our family did get to go have dinner with her last week and she met Ben. Tomorrow we are going to go see her in Dallas at the hospital as Darrel will be able to go with me and entertain Ben in the waiting room. I hope to be able to go visit her again later in the week once she is out of ICU and into a room on the floor.

We're Home

We are home and adjusting to life as a family of eight! Ben is doing well, and the kids adore him. We had some crazy flights coming home with delays due to bad storms in Guangzhou to mechanical delays in San Francisco. Thankfully we did not have to fly in any bad storms and we were able to get on a new plane in California after the one we were supposed to be on was smoking when it had landed just before we were to get on it. Of course this caused about a 2.5 hour delay in getting into to DFW, which we were so anxious to see the kids.

I have updated Ben's site with all of our China pictures from Sunday 6/20 through today. I will continue to update more on his site for now since I will make a CD of it for him.

We Are In China

We finally made it to China a few hours ago. Only 11 more hours until we have Ben. We get him at 10 am China time Friday, and 9 pm Thursday in Texas. Please pray for his transition to go smoothly and that he will begin adjusting to us quickly. I will post pictures on his website tomorrow!

Packing Packing Packing....

We are very busy packing as we leave tomorrow morning at 6:40 am for 24 hours of travel and layovers!

Please pray for travel mercies and as we have to say goodbye to our kids tonight. I'm already crying just typing those words. Also, please pray for the kids as they are here with family and friends. Of course pray for Ben and his foster parents who are so heavy on my heart.

We will update Ben's website which is no longer private at www.lovingben.com I hope you will post comments when you visit as it is sometimes just the encouragement we need to make another day in a foreign country. If for some reason I can't post from his website, I will post on this blog, if it will allow me to.

We're on our way Ben!!

We Have A Consulate Appointment!

We are leaving next week and will have Ben in our arms in 8 days!! We will get to meet face to face for the very first time next Friday, June 11th.

Isaiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God does have our best interest at heart and His plans are always perfect. The last two weeks, the enemy kept discouraging me as we waited and waited for our travel approval. As we prayed and prayed every day for it to come, God chose to make us wait a little longer for at least two reasons. I can now see the end result, the one you want to see sooner than later. We always want to know everything now and not wait for it. If God had given us what we wanted, we would not be getting Ben until the end of June or early July due to the lack of consulate appointments in China. If we had received our travel approval just a week ago, I would have not asked my agency more about traveling to get him before the Dragon Boat Festival, June 14-16. We would have received our TA and booked a consulate appointment at the end of June or first of July. We would have missed this great blessing of getting Ben sooner and now we will be able to spend more time in his province and share the Dragon Boat Festival with him! How awesome is that, God has once again shown me that He has everything under contol and He is sovereign! I also believe the longer we have to wait for things hoped for, the more appreciative we are when we finally do take these little ones into our arms. The wait also allows God to grow such a deep love within our hearts for them, which is so important for our initial bonding. It also allows for us to be able to truly connect with them. It wasn't easy to wait but I am so thankful to God that He knows so much more than I do. He sees the big picture of how it will all play out.

I would like to encourage those of you in the waiting stage to trust God for His perfect timing, eventually you will see why He has made you wait. A verse I have read over and over the past two weeks is Psalm 27:14 Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. You may not feel like waiting, but the Lord truly does have a perfect plan for you and in His perfect timing, you will know His plan.

It looks like we will be leaving very early on Wednesday 6/9 and returning Friday afternoon 6/25. Please keep us in your prayers throughout the next few days as we prepare to leave, we have lot's to do. Also, for Ben's transition to go smoothly and for his foster parents to have comfort and peace as they say goodbye to this sweet little boy they have had since he was just a few days old. Oh how it breaks my heart to know the sadness they will feel as well as the grieving process for Ben.

Please also pray for our kids who will be staying home while we are gone, that they will have lots of fun things to do and not be sad. I know they will all miss us but I'm especially concerned for our two youngest. Of course, this momma will need lot's of prayer as I have to leave the rest of our kids here with family and dear friends. Thanks for being our prayer warriors!

Totally Awesome Wednesday

We received our Travel Approval today!!!!!!!!!! Ben, we are coming sooooon. I will fill you in with all of the details after we have our confirmed consulate appointment, hopefully tomorrow. I can't believe we may be leaving next week! Thank You God!

No News Yet

I am feeling a little frustrated as we still have not received our Travel Approval. The possiblity of leaving on June 4th is not looking very good. Our agency expects to receive Travel Approvals at any time now, since it has been three weeks since they last received any. I think the most frustrating part is that we read about a family who received their approval today who had a later Article 5 date. It just seems like Travel Approvals would be issued in the order that paperwork was received. Maybe just maybe ours is in the mail.

This week has been a little hectic. We are in the middle of the end of the year activities with field trips, band concerts, award ceremonies, field day and tomorrow my sweet baby girl graduates from Kindergarten! She looks so cute in her cap and gown. She is so excited that she has no more school! I will post pictures after her program.

Please keep praying!!!